Writer Unboxed

Some of us aspiring authors hear the word ‘blog’ and automatically think about platform-building. Jane Friedman offers some excellent advice on platform-building in her post, Audience Development: Critical to Every Writer’s Future: Mediocre writers with sales & marketing savvy are more likely to succeed in commercial publishing than talented writers without sales & marketing skill. [...] Even [...]

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Every writer’s career path is different, but one thing remains certain: those who are currently floating in the limbo between “new writer” and “published novelist” endure unique circumstances that can make even the most mentally stable of us question our sanity. Our minds are in a constant state of flux. We know what we’re doing, [...]

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Therese here. Please welcome novelist Rae Meadows to Writer Unboxed. Rae’s third novel, Mothers and Daughters, releases TODAY by Henry Holt and Co. What’s the book about? Samantha is lost in the joys of new motherhood—the softness of her eight-month-old daughter’s skin, the lovely weight of her child in her arms—but in trading her artistic [...]

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Kath here. Please welcome bestselling historical novelist Tony Hays to Writer Unboxed. Tony’s first two volumes in his Dark Ages mysteries, The Killing Way and The Divine Sacrifice, have met with wide acclaim, each receiving starred reviews from both Library Journal and Publisher’s Weekly and glowing praise from Booklist, Kirkus, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, the Historical Novel [...]

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Therese here. Today’s guest is author Julianna Baggott. Julianna is the author of seventeen books, most recently The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted under her pen name Bridget Asher, which releases this Tuesday. Says Booklist: Heidi is still reeling from the death of her husband, Henry, two years earlier. Heidi can’t bring herself to return to [...]

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Kath here. Please welcome Ollin Morales to WU today. Ollin’s blog {Courage 2 Create} chronicles the author’s journey as he writes his first novel. His blog offers writing advice as well as strategies to deal with life’s toughest challenges. Through his blog he also offers a writing consultation service designed to help readers drastically improve their [...]

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This past year has seen significant and well-publicized developments for self-published authors. It’s probably not necessary to point out what the high-profile success stories are, but in case you need a reminder: JA Konrath. Formerly a midlist author with a New York house, now a successful self-publishing author on Kindle, who earned at least $42,000 [...]

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This is the best part. The part where I get to say, “My new novel, The Albuquerque Turkey, is available in bookstores now.” This is the part where I get to sit on the Jay Leno set of my mind (as opposed to the Jay Leno set of real life, for I’m neither a starlet [...]

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As you might have noticed, I’m a great believer in balance for writers—good food, modest amounts of exercise like walking and yoga and swimming to keep all the organs and joints oiled and moving, plenty of sleep and refueling the well with hobbies and travel and such things. But sometimes life just doesn’t leave a [...]

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Kath here, with some good news to share. Today is the release date of contributor John Vorhaus‘s new novel, The Albuquerque Turkey! You can read an excerpt from the first chapter HERE, then head on over to check out John’s kickass book trailer HERE. Congrats, John! Brunonia Barry‘s latest novel, The Map of True Places, has just released [...]

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Therese here. Today’s guest is author Holly Tucker, whose latest book, Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revolution, was released just yesterday. Holly is also the mastermind behind the Writers for the Red Cross auction giveaways you’ve been hearing so much about. (Psst, up on the block this week: Bid [...]

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There’s a scene in Aaron Sorkin’s very smart, very funny, and very cancelled Studio 60 on The Sunset Strip, when a newly-hired television writer scopes out his office. From the room’s disarray, we gather it’s been abandoned for years. Still, when he flicks the switch to turn on a countdown clock, the display announces to [...]

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